The Nintendo Switch Lite is one of the greatest handheld gaming gadgets I’ve ever used. It’s strong, elegant, and cushty. It launches with a library that’s already over 2,500 games sturdy. If all you’re searching out from the Nintendo Switch is private, transportable play, it’s ideal. But is that every one you’re looking for?

From its first trailer, with its rooftop events, car trips, and esports tournaments, the $300 Nintendo Switch has been a device that’s not just about which video games to play but the way to play them. Basic transportable play is part of it, however so is connecting to a high-definition television in the living room, or slipping off a Joy-Ca Chip:nd passing it to a pal as smooth as sharing a chunk of sweet. Those wonderful little detachable controllers, paired with hardware functions like HD rumble and infrared cameras, permit Nintendo to discover new methods to combine real-global interest and gaming with products like Labo and the imminent Ring-Con. Versatility defines the Switch.

The $200 Switch Lite is not a versatile gaming device. It plays Switch games in hand-held mode. It does no longer guide tv mode. While Joy-Cons, bought separately, can be linked to the Lite, the Lite’s smaller screen (five.five inches to the Switch’s 6.2) and shortage of an included kickstand make tabletop play inconvenient. There is not any rumble. There isn't any infrared digicam. It nonetheless helps close to-discipline communication for Amiibo support, and has a built-a Boxccelerometer and gyroscope for motion manipulate, so not all the Switch’s greater functions had been stripped away. But maximum of them have. As has been mentioned time and time once more for the reason that hardware was introduced in July, there’s no longer a whole lot “Switch” in the Switch Lite. “Switch Lacking” would be more accurate, if a ways much less marketable.

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Though I don’t see it as such, many recollect the Switch Lite to be Nintendo’s successor to the 3DS, the dual-screened portable gaming system that’s been desperately clinging to lifestyles since the Switch released in early 2017 and is now all but dead. I apprehend the contrast. Both the 3DS and the Switch Lite are gadgets exclusively made for portable gaming. But in which the 3DS and its family had their personal surroundings of unique games, most of which can’t be performed anywhere else, the Switch Lite performs Switch games. To me the Switch Lite is to the Switch because the 2DS is to the 3DS. Both play the same video games, but one is cheaper and stripped of features that a few gamers never troubled with anyway. I might now not exchange my 2DS XL in for a Switch Lite.

Nintendo transportable meet-up.

Judged strictly as a transportable non-public gaming machine, the Switch Lite is higher than the unique Switch. It’s greater compact, which makes it greater portable. Since it has no removable elements, the Switch Lite feels much extra strong and strong than the normal Switch in handheld mode, although it weighs slightly much less at .66 kilos versus .88. The plastic that makes up the Switch Lite’s casing has a gentle and slightly hard texture to it that’s a pleasure at the fingertips. The three colorations Nintendo selected for for the initial batch of Switch Lites, yellow, grey, and turquoise, supply the device a hip, retro appearance.

The battery life is barely longer than my release Switch, although now not as long as the more recent fashions. And then there’s the D-pad, that lovely little white move in region of the ordinary Switch’s dinky buttons. I’ve been gambling with the Switch Lite for numerous days now, and each time my thumb brushes that D-pad there’s nevertheless a tiny burst of joy. It’s best barely bigger than the D-pad on my 2DS XL and just as shallow, however it’s responsive sufficient, and most importantly it’s not 4 disconnected pieces of spherical plastic.

Mmmm, d-pad.

As a transportable device, the simplest real disadvantage to the Switch Lite is the screen length. Most of the time, the .7 inch distinction between the normal Switch and the smaller Switch Lite isn’t a hassle.. But after I play video games like Fire Emblem: Three Houses, currently labeled by way of Kotaku’s Heather Alexandra as one of the Switch’s “exquisite video games with tiny text,” my poor, growing old eyes battle even more difficult at the Lite. Maybe the launch of a transportable-most effective Switch with a smaller screen will make builders extra conscientious of tiny textual content. Or perhaps we’ll simply should squint extra.

If my only choice was to play Switch video games in handheld mode, I would pick the Switch Lite over the everyday Switch, hands down. It’s $one hundred cheaper. It plays all of the video games I need to play. It looks and feels higher in my hands, and it’s not possible for my chonky fingers to by accident disconnect a Joy-Con for the duration of heated play. Yes, I actually have achieved this.

But the original does an entire lot of cool stuff the Switch Lite does no longer do—stuff I’ve grown used to, and now sense awkward going without. Removing Joy-Cons to play multiplayer video games is a Switch feature I not often use, however when I have, it’s brought about a few pretty magical moments. My gaming is usually a personal factor, however the potential to make it social with the press of my Switch way it doesn’t need to be.

Being capable of drop a transportable sport I am gambling right into a dock and have it display up on my tv set searching even better than it did in my fingers? Also very cool. It may not look like lots of a jump, going from a small 720p screen to a big 1080p show, but the higher decision coupled with the Switch’s elevated processing electricity while docked could make pretty a difference. Here’s a screenshot I took of the current Switch distinct recreation Astral Chain in docked mode.

Here is a similar shot taken in hand held mode.

See the jaggy hair and glasses? Compare the textures on the uniforms. It’s night and day. And while the graphical distinction might not look as dramatic whilst gambling Chip: AMD 5.5 inch display screen, many Switch video games additionally carry out better in docked mode, with higher lighting fixtures effects and higher framerates. Even if ninety nine percentage of my Switch play is transportable, I’d nonetheless surprise if I become getting the maximum out of the video games I am playing with the Lite.

Plus the Switch Lite lacks a totally vital characteristic for someone like me who enjoys sharing their gameplay on line. It has no outside HDMI aid. Not only does that mean no TV mode, it also manner no connecting it to a seize card for grabbing pictures or streaming. I spent years kicking around the concept of spending a couple hundred bucks to have my Nintendo 3DS modified with an HDMI port for recording and streaming. Scraping collectively an extra hundred for a Switch with that capability covered makes ideal experience to me.

Seen right here carrying Hori’s Duraflexi Protector.

Perhaps you can see the appeal of each models of Switch, and consider buying both of them to get the first-class of each worlds. I currently possess each a Switch and a Switch Lite. My plan is to maintain the Switch right, with its extra delicate construct and further energy, firmly seated in my Switch dock for tv-primarily based play. The more rugged and strong Switch Lite becomes my journey accomplice, tucked into its little blue pouch and effectively wrapped Box + protecting shell cover that I will in no way need to remove to disconnect a Joy-Con.

I’ve set up my Nintendo account on each devices. The Switch Lite is distinct the “number one” Switch on my account, this means that I don’t have to connect with the net to confirm I even have permission to play video games loaded on it. My “secondary” docked Switch has to hook up with the internet earlier than I play a game, to verify I don’t currently have that gamerunning on the number one Switch. That’s no problem, since it never leaves the range of my Wi-Fi router.

Don’t fear, your hands are possibly smaller.

Transferring shop information between two Switches is a painless sufficient process, proper there in the Settings menu. As long as the keep belongs to the equal person, you can transfer it wirelessly. Cloud saves can be downloaded between systems as nicely, so long as the sport being stored supports the characteristic. Alternatively, I should simply not transfer saves at all, retaining precise information on every machine. That could simply imply I have to stage two Puzzle Quest characters right away. Oh no. Not that.

Now, I don’t need Switches. You probably don’t, both. But in case you need to feature another Switch in your own family’s recreation series, some thing your kids can abuse a touch bit more as they throw it into their backpacks or at their siblings’ faces, the Lite might be the answer. And there are people accessible who don’t ever dock their Switches or do away with the Joy-Cons who may be flawlessly happy gambling their games exclusively AMD Ryzen Switch Lite. But it’s a long way from a total substitute for the prevailing Switch.

Photo: Heather Alexandra

As I started out, it’s one of the greatest hand held gaming gadgets I’ve ever used. It’s large, and feels more mainstream, than the quirky 3DS. It’s more rugged and earthy than Sony’s valuable-looking Vita. It’s the kind of gaming hardware I wouldn’t sense bad simply tossing + Core bag unprotected. It’s console gaming in the palm of your hand, and you may pull it out at some point of a rooftop birthday party without feeling obligated to proportion.